Hi,
 
I posted about pesticide in our water supply and Dave Green asked for
clarification.
 
Yes I do mean pesticide, not flouridation (another matter).   Yes  there
was  something  of an outcry especially from us.  I haven't been able to
find the reference, so I can't be 100% certain, but the people with whom
I've  asked  a  second  opinion  and  I  agree  that  it was a synthetic
pyrethroid, we think permethrin.
 
The water company's view at the time  was  that  this  was  a  permitted
pesticide  that  is  harmless to _humans_ in the quantities used and for
the durations used and therefore its use was permitted.  If  I  remember
correctly  it  is  used  to  kill  reputedly  harmless  but  'unsightly'
organisms in the water.  I think that our water is less chlorinated than
that  in  the  US,  which  may  give  different  priorities.   Our water
companies do now publish in advance, in the local newspapers, the  dates
& times of treatment.
 
For any aquarists out there, permethrin is also "extremely dangerous" to
fish.   I used to keep marine fishes -- I would have been pretty annoyed
(that isn't the expression that first came to mind) if they killed a few
hundred pounds worth!
 
I think we are winning, but we _must_ continue  to  make  our  positions
understood!
 
--
Gordon Scott    [log in to unmask]         100332,3310 on CompuServe
Newsletter      [log in to unmask]      ditto
                Beekeeper, Kendo Sandan, sometime sailor.
                Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG22 5HP, UK